Month: May 2017

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I keep hearing some buzz about how Twin Peaks is back, or something. I never watched the original show, but do recall the sadness of wishing I could hang out with certain friends on nights when Twin Peaks was on TV in the early 1990s. They were glued to their TV, and although I could share the same room, I could not have their attention when the show was on. Instead of thinking, “must be an awesome show, maybe I should watch,” I just cringed at the creepy-ass soundtrack, and got resentful of Twin Peaks for stealing my friends.

Fast forward to now, where there are so many options for entertainment-on-demand. I still get a little sad when I realize that I don’t share the same interests in entertainment with the majority of people I know, but it matters less. Ultimately, I’ve realized I really don’t need the company of others to be happy.

Every spring we get our cat “shaved.” This is the fifth year running, and the second year we’ve enlisted the services of Better Kitty.

First, you might ask, “why remove the bulk of the cat’s fur?” Well part of it is because it’s cooler for summer. But a bigger part is that our old guy has lost so many teeth that he can’t groom himself properly and gets matted. And occasionally I’ve caught him choking on his own fur that is still attached to his body. I’ve asked him, “How did you kind survive in the wild with no humans?” He had no answer.

So here’s a little glimpse into the world of getting a “lion cut” for the summer:

After the cut, Sketch got a rinse in the bathtub and then got wrapped in a burrito. This is adorable:

I heard that Jackfruit is sometimes used as a meat substitute, especially “Young Green Jackfruit,” and since my daughter is trying to be a vegetarian (and so am I, with slightly less commitment) I figured we should try this stuff. So I got a can at Central Market:

And found a recipe for Jackfruit Sweet Potato Curry. I left out the garlic and onions and kinda forgot to add the spinach, but I think it came out pretty good. My kid wouldn’t eat the sweet potatoes, but my husband thought it was alright. I think it’s worth getting another can.

When I was in my early twenties I had my first full time job, and at times I hated it so much I thought one day I was just going to lose my mind and quit. My active imagination then extrapolated what would happen next: I’d have no money for rent, and end up homeless, living in the woods. I bought a book called “Eat the Weeds” (or something like that) so I could prepare. (In fact, I managed to find a better job and never did end up homeless.)

I’m a big fan of being prepared. Maybe four years of Girl Scouts does that to you. Or maybe it’s being more “J” than “P” on the Myers-Briggs scale, Idunno. So I’m here to suggest to my fellow city-dwelling heathens that you get ready for a world with no health insurance, just in case. I mean, some alternative medicine folks claim that Essiac Tea, for example, is a better cure for cancer than chemo and radiation anyhow. What the hay, why not try it? The only thing you have to lose is your life, and just look at the grand scheme of things: we are all on a giant, sloshy, melting rock hurtling through space along with a giant fireball that’s set to expand and fry the earth in 5 billion years. So hug your nearest sentient being and carry on like there’s no tomorrow.

Cattails! Supposedly edible. The same way corndogs are supposedly edible, I guess.

Look at your life circumstances, like your health, wealth (or lack of). Did you chose them? Look back at the series of events that got you to where you are today. How much were you really in control?

Some say that people need to make good choices if they expect to have a good life. This POV downplays the role of one’s background, environment or family and instead prioritizes self-determination.

Do you think people in dire straits have made poor choices, or were they swept up by forces outside their control?

Does it scare you that people can get swept up by forces outside their control?

If you admit that others might not have had a choice about whether they went bankrupt, contracted AIDS, or became refugees (for example), is it then scary to admit that these these could happen some day to you or someone you care about?

What if true strength comes from learning to navigate the stormy waters of life’s unpredictability with acceptance? What if instead of judging yourself or others harshly, you just accepted what has happened and what is happening?

Some people having a blast letting life take them on a bumpy ride. Click the pic to learn more about where this.

I don’t claim to have any answers, but I think the questions are worth asking.

I’ve been using Facebook for a long time, and so have many of my Facebook friends, but some things about it are just not intuitive.

Who Can See What You Posted?

Here’s an issue that crops up a lot for me, because I only share to Friends, rarely ever to Public. So what happens is I post a link to an article, then one of my friends thinks it’s great (thanks!), and then Shares it directly from Facebook, rather than clicking on the link and posting from the link. (The depressing thing about this is that they may not have even looked at the link at all, just saw the headline and pressed Share underneath.)

The trouble is that the thing they just shared will only be visible to themselves and the Mutual Friends we happen to have, if any. Everyone else will just see “Attachment Unavailable” or something like that.

I’m guessing a lot of folks are using Facebook on their Phones and either can’t see or aren’t aware of the icons (below) that show who can see a Post. Check out these little pictures (ignore the time stamp, it’s just there to clue in to where you will see these icons in FB):

Friends

Public

Friends of Friends **

So if you see that something is marked as Friends, you won’t be able to share it directly from Facebook and have your Friends actually see it. (Hi Mom!) If it’s a link, click through to the site and post to Facebook from there.

**Whoa, how do you post to Friends of Friends!?

I just started using “Friends of Friends” for things I don’t mind being a bit more Public that just “Friends.” It’s not obvious how to do this, so here are the steps:

As you are posting, click the button next to Post, select More, then See All, then Custom

Then start typing in the box “Friends of friends” and it will look like this:

Select “Friends of friends” and Save Changes.

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Now let’s look at a different topic that has been affecting several of my friends, mainly female ones.

Fake Friends

You get a friend request and don’t recognize the person. The vast majority of the time, you should absolutely not friend these strangers. In fact, you may even want to take the extra step of blocking them. Why? They could be scammers trying to get personal information. They could be trolls wanting to harass you. Some extra reasons to be suspicious:

You have no mutual friends

There’s a disconnect with the profile picture vs the person’s page, for example, the profile picture looks like a stock photo of a female model but the page appears to be a man’s

The person’s page contains extremist language or hateful memes

They’ve been on Facebook less than a year and have posted very little

Their profile pictures all look like stock models

They’ve combined attempting to friend you with a private message containing poor grammar and misspelled words

They appear to have a set up a page for the sole purpose of selling something